Pigeons

[Diabolical Artificer]

Ahh, it's a bitser then Mike. I got woken up this morning by a wood pigeon doing the old drum and bass impression outside my bedroom window.

Have seen the a pheasant hit a window but not a pigeon and I've had interactions with pheasant's on the motor bike. Had several miss me by inches but one hit me in the chest and got stuck there, so there I was pootling along at 80 with a pheasant flapping about in my face. Also had a bee get stuck in my lid, that was a bit distracting.

Glad the newts are settling in Mike, hats off to you for taking the time to help em out.

Andy.

[Refugee]

I once spotted the brake lights come on on a van and slowed down to work out why the driver was stopping and then loads of feathers came from under it.
Then a pheasant came out from under it plucked bald but still running.
I could never figure out what there was under that van that could do such a good job of plucking it.
With keen eyesight you can often see them poke there heads out and avoid hitting them if the brakes are good enough.
They go through the radiator if you hit them too hard making for an expensive repair.
It must be painful hitting one on a motorbike.

[BusyBee]

That reminds me of the time I hit a pigeon a couple of miles from home, on my way back from work one evening. I didn't see it in the mirror so wondered what had happened. When I got home I found it calmly sitting behind the radiator grille just in front of the radiator. One of the luckiest pigeons alive.

[Terry]

I was driving round Morecombe Bay many years ago when a large seagull flew straight across the road directly in front of me and vanished under the front bumper.

There was a terrific bang from under the floor and I looked in my rear view mirror expecting to see a flurry of feathers and the mangled remains on the road behind me - but nothing! Not a single feather or any sign of the gull either alive or dead - to this day it is one of life's unsolved little mysteries!

[Refugee]

A mate of mine spotted a black bird that disappeared under the bumper.
It was found dead later.

[ppppenguin]

When I was at school the chemistry lab technician had a 3 wheel Reliant. One day a pigeon crashed though the fibregalss bodywork. Not good for either the pigeon or the car.

[Refugee]

It was a good thing it did not distract his driving while he was going round a corner.
Rolly-polly...

[Crackle]

The nest is down to one egg only now, we found, on the lawn, another broken one with a small embryo chick still in it. If this was a predator bird like a Magpie or a Crow raiding the nest then I would think the contents of the egg would have been eaten.
I am wondering if the eggs are breaking accidentally as the nest is made of small sticks, some of which have knobbly joints and sharp ends. Maybe the pigeons realise when an egg is damaged and remove it from the nest.
Both pigeons continue to take it in turn to sit in the egg, the female always seems to do the night shift and they share the day time sitting between them. The male does a little dance when he returns to relieve her. Sometimes she gets off the nest and sits at the edge of the roof for a short while, looking around, as if to say "where are you, I want to go and get breakfast"

Mike

[ppppenguin]

This may be a daft question: How do you tell which pigeon is female?

[Crackle]

When they "do it" its pretty obvious, apparently they mate for life. It is kind of sweet to think of them trying to raise their little family.
George is always the one who fends off other pigeons on the bird table who come down for a few pecks of grain.

Mike